11 Comments

Book Publishing Experiment

By Lehi Drew - Nov 29 , 2010

I’m going to keep my word and practice what I preach. I’m going to apply the scientific method to the book publishing industry. In any step of the process, I’m welcome to anyone exposing me to the refiner’s fire.

Let’s start with the first step and see how far we get today.

Step 1. Define the Problem.

I need to come up with questions about problems I see in book publishing.

Are traditional publishing models becoming mostly unviable?

Is book publishing going the way of the Internet, much like music and video?

How much money is made from electronic books?

How much money is made from traditional book publishing?

Is publishing a book, online or offline, a viable source of income for authors?

Who makes the most money directly from book sales? Is it the publishers, authors, distributors, or retailers? How much money does each of them make for offline & online book sales?

How else do authors make money from book publishing?

What steps are involved in the traditional publishing of a book?

What steps are involved in the online book publishing process?

What’s the disparity between online book sales and physical book sales?

I think I have enough questions to help me figure out what types of data I will need to look for. I want to make it clear that my main focus is on the viability of traditional publishing and the viability of online publishing.

I will define viability as the ability to generate profit. To determine viability, we’ll need to analyze book sales statistics across the board.

Naturally, the next step is observation and data gathering. The next hurdle to leap over will be in obtaining the data for analysis. I will also need to learn more about statistics to properly analyze my data. If my analyses are flawed, then I’ll botch the scientific method.

Can anyone point me to where I can get the data I need? Does anyone have any data they can share with me? Does anyone else want to get in on this project?

http://twitter.com/b160allen Brandon R Allen

I can’t think of anything at the moment for data but I love the questions that you are asking. It’s always good to support statements with fact although I try to do this as little as possible
http://twitter.com/b160allen Brandon R Allen

I can’t think of anything at the moment for data but I love the questions that you are asking. It’s always good to support statements with fact although I try to do this as little as possible
Chantalrd

Hi Lehi, sounds like an awfully big project, not much fun.

I am out. Just like on Dragon’s den, I am out.
Chantalrd

Hi Lehi, sounds like an awfully big project, not much fun.

I am out. Just like on Dragon’s den, I am out.
http://www.facebook.com/people/Lehi-Drew/754548466 Lehi Drew

I’m not sure what you mean by “Just like on Dragon’s den, I am out.”

It is an awfully big project. It’s necessary in manifesting my Will. I think it will be fruitful, which is what I enjoy about it. To me, it’s exciting to see what’s going on and to act on it.
http://www.facebook.com/people/Lehi-Drew/754548466 Lehi Drew

Indeed it is good to be able to back up what I say. That’s just part of the journey, however. Making something happen is what’s important to me.
Andrea Reindl

I would suggest that you might know the answers already to some of theses questions. For example, Who makes the most money directly from book sales? It is the retailers, they of course get their cut off the top when they sell the books. Good questions, I think Michael Drew might be able to help you a bit
http://www.facebook.com/people/Lehi-Drew/754548466 Lehi Drew

Quiet, they might hear you. Don’t get ahead of me
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=605605636 Kyle McNeil

Lehi – I love where you are going with this!!

There’s some rich questions, that undoubtedly will yield some fruitful answers.
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=605605636 Kyle McNeil

“Just like on Dragon’s den, I am out.”

is a reference to a Canadian show, where entrepreneurs approach the “Dragons” who are 4 or 5 mega investors in Canada, with ideas.

The Dragons after hearing the pitch, often say “I’m out”.

Hope that helps!
http://www.facebook.com/XiaoGui17 Vanessa Hutcheson

It’ll probably be fun to Lehi. He finds intellectual experiments stimulating. I think people should love their work, since we spend so much of our time working. That’s why Lehi’s the one taking it on.

Book Publishing Experiment

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